


Our Girl

by JJ_Smith



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Dad Grantaire, Getting Together, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-27
Updated: 2014-01-27
Packaged: 2018-01-10 06:56:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1156510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JJ_Smith/pseuds/JJ_Smith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grantaire and Enjolras have to work together on a school assignment. This is when Enjolras meets Grantaire's daughter, and finds his place in the small family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Girl

**Author's Note:**

> One day me and my sister started headcanoning a trans daughter for Grantaire, then this fic happened. Sorry if my characterization isn't too good, I'm not too familiar with these characters.

Grantaire divides his life into two parts: his life before and after his daughter came into his life. In many ways his daughter is his saviour. He no longer drinks as much and even socialises more. He still remembers the day she came into his life like it happened just yesterday. It started like any other day, with a cup of coffee and aspirins to help with his hangover, when suddenly there was a knock on the door. Grantaire was ready to get very cross at whoever decided it was a good idea to disturb him this early, but when he opened the door he didn’t see anyone waiting for him. He was about to close the door again when he saw a baby in a basket on his doorstep. The baby’s face contorted and Grantaire quickly knelt down beside the basket to comfort her.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, carefully lifting the baby. To his greatest surprise the baby didn’t start crying, but she calmed immediately and went back to sleeping peacefully. Grantaire didn’t see anyone who could have left the baby on his doorstep, but he did find a note in her basket. The message was simple; the child was his, the result from one of his one night stands, and since the mother couldn’t afford to care for the baby she’d left her with Grantaire.

To this day, Grantaire still can’t fathom how anyone could leave their baby on the doorstep of someone who might as well be a stranger, but he can’t be more thankful.

It hasn’t always been easy raising his daughter. At first, Grantaire didn’t even know how to change a diaper, but with the help of Google he managed.

One of the greater challenges of parenthood was when his daughter came to Grantaire with the message that she was a girl and not a boy. Of course Grantaire accepted his daughter’s gender immediately, but he wasn’t sure how to handle it correctly. He didn’t want her to end up as broken as him. Grantaire found a therapist who specialised in young transgender children who had a spot for them. They’ve been going to her once a week ever since.

Grantaire fondly remembers the time his daughter spent trying to find a name for herself. She went by at least a dozen different names in a month before finally settling on Elle, after she watched Legally Blonde with him. The movie did not only bring Elle a name, but it also gave her a new favourite colour: pink. Suddenly everything in her room had to be pink, and they spent a weekend painting her walls and furniture all kinds of different shades of pink. The artist in Grantaire cringed at some of the shades Elle picked out, but he went along with his daughter’s choices anyway. He’d do anything to make her happy.

Sometimes Grantaire is surprised at how happy Elle is, considering his own mental state at times. Elle is his own little beam of sunshine, though. She never fails to make him smile.

When Grantaire first started taking care of Elle he tried combining being a parent with college, but after just a few months he dropped out. Elle was more important to him and going to classes and work left him hardly any time to spend with his daughter. Now that Elle’s going to school herself, Grantaire has enrolled in college once again. When Grantaire got accepted again, Elle had insisted they celebrate with a homemade (pink) cake. Two weeks have passed, and just this morning Grantaire found some edible glitter in his breakfast.

Grantaire has carefully planned his classes during Elle’s school hours, and so far he’s always been on time to pick her up from school. Today that might prove to be a bit of a problem, though. His partner for his gender studies essay is insisting they go over possible subjects right this minute. Grantaire can’t for the life of him remember his partner’s first name, only his last name stuck: Enjolras. The man’s bleached hair is a complete contrast to his dark skin and even though Grantaire definitely isn’t the guy’s biggest fan in that moment, he has the intense desire to have Enjolras pose for a painting. Time is ticking away, though, and Grantaire only has another five minutes to leave before he won’t make it to Elle’s school in time.

“Can’t we do this over email or something?” Grantaire suggests.

“No,” Enjolras answers quickly. “This way you have an immediate reaction. I don’t see why you have to be this stubborn about all this. The sooner we get started on this, the sooner we’ll finish.”

“Sooner isn’t always better. It might be better to sleep on it for a night,” Grantaire suggests. It takes all he has to keep his patience with Enjolras.

“I want to make a headstart on this. I will not be working at the last possible moment to finish this essay,” Enjolras insists stubbornly.

“If you insist on settling this today, then we need to move it to my place. I have responsibilities,” Grantaire says, a last effort at getting to his daughter in time.

“Fine, but I’m not leaving until we’ve settled on a subject.”

Grantaire doesn’t waste another minute and quickly begins walking towards his car. Enjolras is a little startled at how quickly Grantaire takes off, but he follows him anyway. Grantaire drives a little over the speed limit to get to Elle’s school in time. Thankfully, Enjolras stays quiet for most of the ride; he doesn’t speak up until he’s waiting outside of Elle’s school with Grantaire.

“I thought we were going to your place,” Enjolras says. “Why are we waiting out here?”

“We’re picking up my daughter,” Grantaire states. The look of shock that brings on Enjolras’ face nearly makes Grantaire laugh. “What’s wrong? Do little kids scare you?”

“No!” Enjolras answers a little too loudly. “I’m just a little surprised you have a daughter.”

“Probably not as surprised as I was when I found out,” Grantaire mutters.

Before Enjolras can reply, a large group of kids leaves the school, chatting loudly. Grantaire spots Elle quickly and waves at her. The girl says goodbye to her friends and runs over to Grantaire.

“Papa! I learned to write my name today!” she says, pulling on Grantaire’s sleeve. “It’s so amazing! I feel so much smarter already.” She pulls Grantaire along to his car and he follows with a smile on his face.

Enjolras is a little startled to see him smile; in school Grantaire always looks so stoic, even a little sad at times.

Elle’s telling Grantaire everything about her day and in her excitement she doesn’t even notice Enjolras until Grantaire’s strapping her into her seat.

“Papa, who is your friend?” she asks, smiling at Enjolras.

“He’s just a guy from my class. We’re working on a project together,” Grantaire answers.

Grantaire’s answer gets Elle to talking about a project the entire class is working on and she doesn’t stop talking until they’re nearly at Grantaire’s home.

“Mister, I like your hair,” she says suddenly.

Enjolras looks a little shocked. “Are you talking to me?”

Elle nods. “Yes. Your hair is so nice.”

Grantaire nearly takes pity on Enjolras when he sees the look on his face. It looks like he has no idea what to do or say. His expression is nearly pitiful enough for Grantaire to interfere, nearly. For now, he just decides to enjoy the show.

“It’s even curlier than papa’s!” Elle exclaims, like that’s an important achievement worthy of a trophy or something.

The laugh that Grantaire lets out startles Enjolras. He doesn’t like the situation he’s in one bit. He’s usually in control of himself, but right now he hasn’t got a clue on how to act. Grantaire is so different from Enjolras’ first impression of him and then there’s the kid… Enjolras doesn’t do children. He’s even been banned from looking after his cousins during family gatherings.

“Papa, why doesn’t your friend say anything?” Elle asks Grantaire, a little confused.

“I think he’s a little shy,” Grantaire answers, shooting Enjolras a grin. “He must not get many compliments from such clever, little girls.”

When Grantaire finally parks his car, Enjolras lets out a sigh of relief and gets out of the car as quickly as possible. He made a great mistake of going with Grantaire, but he can’t really back out right now.

Grantaire doesn’t even try to hide his snicker at Enjolras’ haste of getting out of the car. He gets out as well and helps Elle get out before locking the car.

“Papa, your friend’s a little funny,” she whispers. “But I like him anyway.”

Grantaire ruffles her hair. “I’m glad you do. You’ll be good and let us work, right? I promise we’ll do something fun together when he’s left.”

Elle nods. “Promise.” She takes Grantaire’s hand and happily skips inside the building.

Enjolras follows them a little reluctantly. He doesn’t know quite what to expect from Grantaire’s apartment, but he never in his wildest dreams would have imagined what greets him when he enters the apartment. There’s a massive portrait of Elle dressed like a princess in the hallway. What’s even more surprising to Enjolras is that she’s carrying a sword like she’s ready to battle a dragon or something. He must have been staring at the painting for longer than he realised because suddenly Grantaire’s next to him.

“The sword was her idea,” he points out. “She wanted to be able to kill a dragon if one attacked her kingdom. I thought it was very clever and responsible.”

“Well, it definitely smashed societal expectations of what a princess is,” Enjolras says.

Grantaire leads Enjolras to the kitchen table which, judging by the books and art materials, isn’t really used for eating. Enjolras is about to sit down when he notices the state of the living room walls. The walls aren’t just painted one color, or covered in wallpaper; instead, it’s one giant masterpiece, no doubt painted by Grantaire, with some childish handprints and flowers among it. It’s unconventional, and Enjolras supposes that’s the most important reason why he likes it.

“You know, we aren’t going to get anywhere if you keep ogling my apartment,” Grantaire remarks.

Enjolras flushes and sits down at the table. “I was just intrigued; you can’t blame me for that.” He pointedly ignores looking at the wall again and takes out his notes from the class. “Let’s continue where we left off and hope we can work quietly, despite the circumstances.”

“If by circumstances you mean my daughter, I doubt we’ll have any trouble,” Grantaire says, a little hurt that Enjolras sees Elle as an annoyance. “She’s very good at working quietly.”

To Enjolras’ surprise, Grantaire is right. Elle interrupts them twice to show something she drew to Grantaire. Grantaire smiles proudly and adds the drawings to the fridge, which is already filled with children’s drawings, before he goes back to discussing the essay with Enjolras.

Despite Elle’s good behavior, Grantaire and Enjolras don’t make much progress. They argue over just about every aspect of the essay. When dinnertime rolls around, Elle invites Enjolras to stay over. A little panicked, he makes up some excuse and leaves. Though he doesn’t like leaving without resolving anything, he doesn’t think he can survive dinner with Elle.

As much as Enjolras tries to avoid working at Grantaire’s apartment, he still spends at least one evening a week there. Mostly, Elle stays in her bedroom to play or draw. Some evenings he even forgets that Elle’s in the apartment.

It’s difficult for Grantaire to work with Enjolras. Sure, he enjoys the man’s presence and he especially loves arguing with him about every little detail of the essay, but he enjoys it a little too much. Grantaire’s slowly falling in love and that’s a problem. He hasn’t gone on dates since Elle came into his life. He also vowed to never date a person that wouldn’t love his daughter as well, or would at least tolerate her. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Enjolras doesn’t like being around Elle. So, Grantaire suffers in silence.

 

The first time Enjolras actually sees Grantaire paint is when he drops by unannounced on a Saturday. The floor and all the furniture is covered in plastic sheets and the usually colourful walls are almost completely white. Elle’s carefully coloring in a rainbow Grantaire has lined out on the wall.

“How often do you guys do… this?” Enjolras asks, gesturing towards the wall.

Grantaire shrugs. “Usually at least once a month. It depends on when we get tired of the last painting.”

It isn’t hard to see he’s annoyed by Enjolras’ presence. A part of Enjolras wants to leave, but he’s also intrigued to see this. He’s seen some of Grantaire’s works, but he’s never seen the man paint in person. So, Enjolras does something he never thought he’d do; he makes an excuse to stay.

“Just continue, my ...um… Combeferre has his boyfriend over and it’s hard to concentrate at home. I thought I’d come here since I need your opinion on this piece I’m writing anyway,” Enjolras mumbles, hoping Grantaire will buy it.

“Any reason why you can’t work in the library?” Grantaire asks. It’s a completely reasonable response, Enjolras knows that, but he still hates it. Before he can think of a reason, he gets an unexpected ally.

“Papa, be nice!” Elle says. The little girl looks like a force to be reckoned with. She’s standing tall with her hands on her hips and she has a look of determination on her face.

Grantaire waves in the direction of the kitchen table with a look of defeat on his face. “Don’t complain about us being too loud or anything,” he says.

Enjolras usually does his homework in complete silence, but this day the sounds of the radio, Grantaire, and Elle don’t bother him. The few times he shows some of his writing to Grantaire, Grantaire finds something wrong with it, to no one’s surprise. It doesn’t even bother Enjolras any more; Grantaire’s criticisms help him improve his work.

Between writing paragraphs for their essay, Enjolras can’t help but peek over at what Grantaire’s doing. At a certain point Elle is sitting on his shoulders so she can reach the top of the rainbow, while Grantaire’s busy painting the unicorn Elle insisted on. The wall certainly isn’t one of the masterpieces Enjolras has heard people talk about at school, but Enjolras can see how proud Grantaire is. Critics wouldn’t appreciate the art Grantaire and Elle are creating, and Enjolras figures that’s part of its charm. Looking at Elle and Grantaire is like looking at what a true family should look like. A loving father who’ll go against societal standards to make his daughter happy, and a daughter who can fully express herself.

Just a week ago Enjolras found out that Elle is transgender, something that instantly made his respect for Grantaire grow. It wasn’t planned, and Grantaire looked really ashamed he’d let the truth out. They’d been arguing on how to raise kids when Grantaire exploded and said that you should let children be free to be who they were. They’d be much happier that way and wouldn’t be forced to pretend to be a boy like Elle. The second Grantaire realised what he’s just said he flushed bright red and turned away. “Pretend you didn’t hear that. I shouldn’t have said that.” Enjolras hasn’t brought it up since, but he can’t help but admire Grantaire for the way he treats Elle.

Enjolras realises too late that he’s been staring at the two. Grantaire’s the first to speak up.

“Don’t you have to work or something?” he asks, sounding a little defensive. Grantaire has been defensive ever since he let the truth about Elle slip. He’s still expecting Enjolras to slip up and say something horrible to his little girl. His head is telling him that it’s nonsense, that this is Enjolras. Enjolras may be infuriating at times, but he’s hardly ever truly offensive to people who don’t deserve it.

“Sorry, I was just… admiring your artwork,” Enjolras answers.

Grantaire isn’t sure whether the man is sincere or not, but he doesn’t have much time to think about it before Elle interferes again.

“Do you want to help?” she asks. “The rainbow papa made for me to colour is so big; I need help. Or you could help me with the flowers!”

Enjolras looks like a deer caught in the headlights. It’s quite hilarious to Grantaire, who can barely suppress laughter.

“I’d just mess it up,” Enjolras answers. “I’m not very good at artistic stuff…”

“That’s okay, I’m not good either,” Elle answers. “Daddy’s helping me a lot; he can help you.” With Grantaire’s help, she climbs down from his shoulders and marches over to Enjolras, offering him an extra paintbrush. “Please? It’s much more fun with more people.”

Before Enjolras got to know Grantaire and Elle, he would have had no trouble saying no to a little girl, but now there’s something about her pout that makes his heart break at the thought of saying no to her. He takes the brush with a sigh of defeat. “Okay, I’ll try.”

Elle smiles widely and excitedly pulls Enjolras along to the wall. She tells him exactly which colours go where on the rainbow and puts him to work on the parts of the wall she can’t reach from Grantaire’s shoulders.

Enjolras told himself he’d only help paint the rainbow – he couldn’t fuck up too much about that – but Elle’s enthusiasm is infectious and fifteen minutes later she’s teaching him how to paint a flower.

For Grantaire, seeing Enjolras interact so well with Elle is nearly enough to kill him. He’s been able to keep his crush at bay by reminding himself that Enjolras can’t get along with Elle, but now that’s all changing. Enjolras even looks to be enjoying himself painting childish flowers. It takes everything Grantaire has not to swoon when Enjolras looks his way after finishing his first flower. It doesn’t look much better than Elle’s flowers do, but the man looks proud anyway. It’s the moment Grantaire realises he’s completely doomed. There’s no way he’ll get out of this without a broken heart.

Against his better judgement, he doesn’t send Enjolras away. He even engages with him even more by teaching him how to improve his flowers. Both Elle and Enjolras work hard on filling the field the unicorn’s standing on with flowers.

It’s hard for Enjolras to believe he’s actually enjoying himself doing this. He’s never been any good at creative things, always been a man of reason. He’s fully aware that his flowers should be an embarrassment to an adult, but he’s proud nonetheless. He made something that’s going to be on Grantaire’s wall for weeks. It’s horribly domestic to paint with Grantaire and Elle, and Enjolras can’t remember a time he’s felt more like he was a part of a family. The feeling’s strengthened when he’s invited to stay for dinner, when the three of them eat take-out Chinese straight out of the boxes, on the living room floor.

Enjolras stays until well after dinner. He helps Grantaire do the dishes and paints a few more flowers with Elle. He watches Grantaire read his daughter to sleep and comes to the startling realisation that he wants to be a part of this family. He’s in love with Grantaire, the brilliant artist who always disagrees with him. Against his better judgement he doesn’t run away as fast as he can, but he stays and helps Grantaire clean up the painting supplies. The two talk, actually talk without arguing, about tv shows they enjoy for an hour before Enjolras heads home. He promises to return the next day, to help finish up the wall.

 

The due date for the essay is rapidly approaching, and they aren’t progressing very quickly. Both keep disagreeing with the other’s work, and for a while it looks like they might not make the deadline. The last weekend they work round the clock at Grantaire’s apartment, with Elle bringing in drinks and food from time to time. She even orders pizza for them at night. Enjolras ruffles her hair, a gesture he’s seen Grantaire make several times, and thanks her for taking care of them so well.

They finish the paper an hour before class starts. Enjolras expects to feel accomplished when he hands it in, but instead he feels empty. He no longer has a reason to spend hours with Grantaire and Elle. He knows fully well they’re not really family, but they certainly feel like his family much more than his own parents do.

A week goes by and Grantaire and Enjolras hardly speak. Grantaire isn’t happy, but he doesn’t want to make the first move. It looked like Enjolras really enjoyed spending time with him and Elle, but he’s made no move to continue coming over. He figures it was probably just wishful thinking on his part.

Another week passes and they get their grade, the highest in the class. It’s an empty victory for both. Enjolras goes home to Combeferre and spends the evening watching a movie with him and Courfeyrac. Grantaire spends the evening making a princess dress for Elle, since she grew out of her old one. It isn’t hard to see that Elle misses Enjolras as well, even if she doesn’t say it.

Two weeks later Grantaire gets an assignment in one of his classes to paint a portrait that he knows Enjolras will be the perfect model for.  He doesn’t give himself time to question his decision and immediately calls Enjolras to invite him over and model for him. To his relief Enjolras accepts almost instantly. Enjolras agrees to come over on Saturday, which leaves Grantaire three days to worry about Enjolras cancelling on him.

Enjolras agrees to model for Grantaire without much thought. He’s frankly too happy to be able to see Grantaire and Elle again. Over the next three days he begins worrying, though. He has no idea what Grantaire expects from him. Enjolras has never modeled for anything, what if he does it wrong? There’s this fear that he’ll let down Grantaire, it’s a fear Enjolras isn’t familiar with. He’s never worried about what others think of him. Grantaire is an exception for him.

When Saturday finally comes around, both Grantaire and Enjolras are nervously awaiting the moment they’ll see each other again. Grantaire has the very welcome distraction of Elle, who seems to be even more excited to see Enjolras again than Grantaire. Elle shows off seven different outfits before deciding on a simple, red dress that she thinks Enjolras will like best. It’s cute to see his daughter fuss like that over her appearance, though Grantaire doesn’t really want to think of her doing the same thing when she’s older and starts dating.

When there’s a knock on the door, Elle lets out an excited squeal and runs to open it. She greets Enjolras with a big smile and quickly tugs him inside. “You’re back! Papa and I missed you, even though papa won’t say it.”

Grantaire rushes over to push Elle away from Enjolras, before she says something else embarrassing. “I … um…” Grantaire tries to think of some excuse, but can’t find any. “Um… I set up stuff in the living room,” he ends up saying.

Enjolras is still a little in shock over Elle’s warm welcome, and her statement that Grantaire missed him, when Grantaire leads him over to the living room. Enjolras tries to ignore the way his heart is beating a little faster as Grantaire guides him into a good position for the portret. If he speaks at all, Enjolras can’t remember it. A silence falls over them as Grantaire begins to paint, which Enjolras had expected to be uncomfortable. It’s the complete opposite, though. Enjolras doesn’t mind not speaking, the only sounds in the room come from the radio and the muffled sounds of Elle playing in her room. It’s interesting to see Grantaire work. He’s completely focused on the canvas in front of him.

For all Grantaire could care, the world could disappear around them. All he’s focused on is trying to make an accurate representation of Enjolras on the canvas. He’d put on the radio for Enjolras’ sake, but after just a few minutes he can’t even hear it.

Neither are aware of how much time passes; it could be hours or minutes. At one point Elle joins them. She pulls one of her small, pink chairs from her room and sits down next to Grantaire, holding a sketchbook as she too starts drawing a portrait of Enjolras. For dinner Grantaire orders chinese take out. Enjolras isn’t allowed to look at his portrait, to his great annoyance. Grantaire promises him that he’s allowed to see it when it’s done. When Enjolras promises to return the next day to model again, Elle jumps up and down in joy. Enjolras is surprised by how much Elle’s reaction means to him.

By the time Grantaire finishes the portrait Enjolras has already thought of an excuse to come back again. He’s enlisted Grantaire’s help in designing the posters for upcoming protests. Grantaire is happy to help, especially when Enjolras shows him some of the previous posters and it’s clear that his help is desperately needed.

“How did you even make these? They’re terrible!” Grantaire can’t help but point out all the flaws in the design. “There is so much text, I can barely find when and where this protest is supposed to take place. Did people even show up?”

“A few,” Enjolras mutters. He knows his posters aren’t the greatest, but he never knew there were so many issues with them. It’s hard to hear Grantaire criticize his work so harshly.

“Just promise me you’ll never consider designing something like this again,” Grantaire says.

“That’s ridiculous,” Enjolras begins to protest. “It can’t be that bad!”

“Promise, or you’re not getting good posters.” Grantaire sounds serious and Enjolras doesn’t want to risk it.

“Promise,” he gives in.

 

After the posters they both keep making excuses for Enjolras to come over to the apartment, even if half of the time they just end up playing with Elle or watching movies together. Elle is ecstatic over all the attention she’s getting from both men. Neither is ready to admit it means more, though. Grantaire is too scared of things changing for the worse to ask Enjolras out, while Enjolras is too stubborn to make the first move. Their relationship doesn’t change, until three months later.

Grantaire doesn’t show up in class, which is highly unusual for him. Grantaire never gets sick; Enjolras clearly remembers the man bragging about that when Enjolras had been in bed with the flu last month. Grantaire also doesn’t skip classes. There’s hardly anyone on campus who’s more serious about his education than Grantaire.

Enjolras doesn’t pay attention to anything the professor says, and when they’re dismissed he’s the first one out of the room. Within seconds he has his phone to his ear, waiting impatiently for Grantaire to answer.

“Why weren’t you in class?!” Enjolras yells, the second he hears someone answer the phone.

“You don’t have to yell,” Grantaire says softly. Enjolras immediately notices how tired he sounds, like that time Elle made them stay up late to watch movies until they fell asleep in front of the TV, only to wake them up again at seven.

“Why weren’t you in class?” Enjolras asks again, a little calmer this time.

“Elle had an accident yesterday. I spent all night in the hospital with her,” Grantaire explains.

Enjolras freezes, the words ‘accident’ and ‘hospital’ keep repeating themselves over and over in his mind. Elle had an accident. Beautiful, amazing, funny Elle had an accident serious enough to land her in the hospital. It’s hard for Enjolras to breathe. “How? What? When?” Enjolras stammers out, barely even aware of the words.

“We went to the park and she fell off the jungle gym,” Grantaire explains, sounding almost mechanical. “She landed wrong and she broke her leg.”

“Where are you now?” Enjolras asks, already hurrying out of the campus. He needs to get to them. He needs to see Elle and hold her and tell her everything will be alright.

“We just got back home,” Grantaire answers. Before he can say anything else, Enjolras hangs up.

It takes Enjolras half the time it usually would to get to Grantaire’s apartment, and by the time he knocks on the door he’s out of breath.

Grantaire opens the door, startled by the state Enjolras is in. “Are you okay?” he asks. “You look like you’re about to pass out any second.”

“You should have told me,” Enjolras says between pants.

“I’m sorry; I’ve been a little busy trying to comfort my daughter. I didn’t exactly have time to inform everyone of what was happening,” Grantaire answers.

“You can’t just not show up!” Enjolras continues, completely ignoring Grantaire’s words. “I’ve been worried sick, you fool. You can’t just do this to me! You can’t just not tell me when our girl gets hurt!”

“Our?” Grantaire asks, completely baffled by Enjolras choice of words.

“I mean your girl,” Enjolras corrects himself, color flushing to his cheeks.

“You said our girl. You think of her as ours?” Grantaire asks again.

Enjolras looks away, not knowing how to answer that. The truthful answer would be ‘yes’, but he’s only just discovered this himself. Logically he knows that Elle isn’t his. She’s Grantaire’s daughter and he’s just the guy that comes over a lot. His heart, however, says something completely different. “What if I did?” He says after an uncomfortable silence.

Now it’s Grantaire’s time to be speechless. He replays all the times he saw Enjolras interact with Elle in his head, and he knows it feels right. Elle loves him, and even though Enjolras had seemed hesitant at first to interact with the girl, it’s clear she’s won him over entirely. The three of them are like a family and Grantaire wonders why he didn’t see that before today. “Well, I would say that maybe you should ask me out on a date first, before we share custody.”

“I guess I could do that,” Enjolras answers. He can’t help but smile at Grantaire’s answer. He isn’t being pushed away from the two people he cares about more than anyone; he’s being invited into their world. Enjolras spends the entire day trying to cheer up Elle with Grantaire, and she even manages to convince him to draw on her cast. Grantaire cooks for them and Enjolras carries Elle to the table when they’re ready to eat. It’s horribly domestic, and before Enjolras met Grantaire he could have never seen himself do any of it. Now he’s changed; now he has found a family. Enjolras has never felt more loved.

 


End file.
